Day 9: Who's Day Tuesday? Jess!!

No! Not me! The other Jess. The one that has the same name. Who's boyfriend is also her high school sweetheart and is named Dan. Just like my Daniel is my high school sweetheart. Oh, and did I mention that Jess and I happened to move to Boston the same fall, and applied and were accepted to the same grad program (of only twelve students) the same year? That we're both vegan and that we were the only two students commuting over an hour to school from Boston and so obviously commuted together? That on the first day of school she got out of the car, I took one look at her shirt and burst out laughing because I had the exact same one at home? That we both moved to Boston so that both our Dan's could go to graduate school at MIT? That both of these Dan's got their undergrad degrees in mechanical engineering and were on their schools' FSAE (race car building) teams? That we're the exact same height? 

So there's that. I don't know how that's possible, but the best part was when we first met, because it just happened to work out that everything Jess said, I responded to with, "Oh, me too!" Like some bizarre copy cat compulsive liar. I was afraid to friend her on Facebook for fear that she would think I was stalking her. 

But eventually, all was revealed as true, as implausible as it sounds, and Jess and I became fast friends. We even dressed up as a raccoon and a fox for Halloween, because apparently I am the best at making friends on Halloween and because apparently I only dress in animal costumes (see last week's Who's Day Tuesday if this makes no sense) #Icantwaitforthisyearscostume. 

In our program we had some really emotionally straining days, like when we visited a huge pig farm, when we saw how they dehorn calves, or when we spent class with guest speakers who included a rabid dog breeder and a poultry expert who demanded someone name a religion which opposed the use of poultry without being vegetarian (why this specifically and how it falls under the purview of a poultry production expert I was never sure). I was always glad to be able to laugh or cry about it with Jess for the next couple hours in the car. To be honest, I'm pretty sure that the number of people in the world that I could spend 2-4 hours a day, 4 days a week for an entire school year in a car with and not want to kill, is precisely one, and that one would be Jess. :) Thanks for putting up with me and my incessant yammering lady! 

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Hi everyone! My name is also Jess, which will make it that much easier to hijack my friend’s fabulous blog for a day (cue evil laugh). Just kidding, I was invited. But it is true that we have the same name and a shared love for animal rights and amazing vegan food.

Today, I’m sharing a classic Romanian dish that I’ve loved since childhood, which also happens to be vegan! My parents immigrated to the U.S during the communist regime in Romania. I was born here in the U.S. but learned Romanian as my first language and was brought up eating Romanian food. Romania is a gorgeous country, a little known gem, and if you have the chance to visit, you should. We’re even home to Dracula’s castle! I’ve made it out alive twice!

Unfortunately, it’s also one of the poorer countries in the E.U., and during the communist years food was rationed and resources scarce; YET Romanians have created a delicious cuisine based on cheap ingredients that combine with sublime simplicity into dishes that never disappoint. I hope you enjoy one of my all-time favorites below for a little taste of Romania!

As Jess would say, “Noroc!” (Cheers!)

Romanian Bean Dip (Fasole bătută)

Serves: 2-3 (as dinner), 3-4 (as an appetizer)

Time: 35 minutes

What you’ll need

For the dip:

3 cans of Great Northern beans (I prefer Bush’s brand)

1/3 cup vegetable oil

3 cloves garlic

½ tsp salt

For the topping:

1 large onion (white or yellow)

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tsp tomato paste

Start on the topping first (it takes a while to cook and you can make the dip in the meantime, just be sure to mix every few minutes to avoid burning.).

Peel onion and slice into thin, long strips. Add the vegetable oil to a frying pan, use to coat pan, then add the onion. Saute onion on medium heat until browned (usually about 15-20 minutes so that the onions caramelize). When onion is nearly done (~5 min left) add tomato paste and mix with onions and oil, allowing it to cook together for a few more minutes.

While the onion sizzles, start working on the dip. Drain and rinse the beans, then place them in a large bowl. Using a potato masher, mash the beans until they form a chunky paste. (If you want to cheat a little, you can put the beans in a food processor or blender on low speed, so that they mash together but still stay a little chunky). Once the beans are mashed, mince the garlic and add it to the beans along with the oil and salt. Use a hand mixer to beat and mix the ingredients together; the oil will help to smooth out the bean paste and give it a creamy texture.

Transfer the dip to a serving dish or Tupperware, then spread the caramelized onion topping over the surface.

Serve with warm, delicious crusty bread.  (Tastes great cold the next day too)

Have I mentioned that Romanians also LOVE dill? You’ll find this unassuming spice, dried or fresh, in many classic Romanian dishes. For an easy, refreshing side, try this.

Mom’s Dill Salad

Serves: 2-3

Time: 10 minutes

What you’ll need:

2 cucumbers

2 tomatoes

1 ½ tbsp vegetable oil

¾ tbsp red wine vinegar

1 tsp dried dill

salt to taste

Peel cucumbers and slice. Rinse tomatoes and slice. Mix cucumbers, tomatoes, oil, vinegar, dill, and salt in a bowl and toss.

Enjoy! (Poftă bună!)

Day 8: Monday Morning on the Go

I have a hunch that for many people this post is going to be a little underwhelming. However, if you're anything like me, Monday mornings, or mornings in general actually, can be a bit tough. For the last couple years I've had a little over an hour long commute, which meant that if I ate breakfast at my house I would be ready for lunch sometime around 10:00 or 11:00am, which I thought was ridiculous. So to deal with that I came up with a bunch of breakfasts that I could take with me and eat on the train, (or in my carpool buddy's car). This way I was able to sleep a few more minutes and eat lunch at a reasonable time. 

I also think that many people upon going vegan, especially if they're anything like me (I get a little nauseous thinking about having cereal and soymilk everyday for the rest of my life, plus its really not very travel friendly), have a hard time coming up with breakfast ideas. 

The purpose of these Monday posts is to provide some really fast, simple, and healthy breakfasts that can be eaten on the run. For the seasoned vegans it might seem a little too obvious.

Monday Morning on the Go #1 is the bagel. When I first went vegan I would eat bagels with faux cream cheese, which is fine and tastes alright, but I do not like eating a lot of "faux" products and I don't like eating a lot of things that have essentially zero nutritional value, so I was on the lookout for a bagel spread that was healthy, wholesome, and tasty. 

I don't remember where I first got the idea of hummus on a bagel specifically, but I feel like it was maybe on PPK or in Veganomicon. I know it sounds a bit weird, but it is probably my favorite weekday breakfast. I usually eat a whole wheat bagel with the jalapeño hummus from Whole Foods, but have also tried a spinach artichoke hummus and a red pepper hummus that were very good on bagels as well. 

I just toast the bagel, spread the hummus, and wrap it in a paper towel, which doubles as wrapper and napkin and makes eating these things on the train or in the car a little bit easier! 

Cheers!

Day 7: Sleepy Sunday Brunch Savory Crepes

I've always been a huge fan of crepes, though, I tended to stick to the sweet fillings, rather than the savory, because putting salty things in extra thin pancakes always seemed a little weird to me.

But it turns out it's actually really, really good, and so I'm experimenting. Today I made a filling with garlic, tomatoes, and basil. It's nice for the end of summer. I used the crepe recipe from Veganomicon, and so I won't share that portion of the recipe here. I'm sure you can find an equivalent vegan crepe recipe online, but if you're interested in vegan cooking enough to come to my blog, and haven't already done so, you should consider investing in the Veganomicon cookbook, it's where I learned pretty much everything I know about vegan cooking! The filling I came up with on my own, so I will share that below.

Also... the garlic and tomatoes are actually sautéed until browned and caramely. We're into saving energy here, and so wanted to get the effect of roasting, without firing up the whole stove, and also Sauteed Tomatoes doesn't sound as good.

Roasted Tomatoes and Garlic Basil Creme Filling for Savory Crepes
Serves 2 hungry people, depending on how many crepes you destroy. I destroyed two. 
Time: 40 minutes (including time to make crepes, if only making the filling probably 20 minutes)

1 cup raw cashews, soaked in water overnight
1/3 cup crumbled extra firm tofu

1/2 cup water

2 tablespoons olive oil

6 garlic cloves, minced

1 1/2 cups sliced tomatoes

1/2 cup chopped basil

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Drain the cashews and place in blender with 1/2 cup of water. Blend until smooth. Transfer to a bowl.

Heat the oil in a medium-sized skillet over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and saute until browned and crispy, stirring frequently, about 3-4 minutes. Remove from pan and scrape garlic until the cashew cream.

Return the pan to the oven, and add a touch more oil if necessary. Lay the tomato slices out in the pan in one flat layer. Allow them to brown on one side, and then flip them with a spatula. Brown the other side, remove from pan, and repeat until all the slices have been cooked. The tomato slices are going to fall apart, it's their nature, and that's okay. Set aside until ready to serve.

To complete the cashew cream, add the chopped basil, salt, and pepper to the bowl and stir to combine.

To prepare crepes, spoon the cream in a line down the center of each crepe. Distribute the tomatoes on top of the creme, roll up, and serve.

Cheers!

Day 6: Lemon Basil Whiskey Sours

This was supposed to be the Thirsty Thursday post. Better late than never, right? We went on an adventure to a county fair in north central Massachusetts today and created a "meatloaf," but those pictures will have to come tomorrow!

At any rate, I've been intrigued by the idea of using basil in sweet things since I saw the basil peach pie in Vegan Pie in the Sky. I've been a longtime fan of whiskey sours, and it occurred to me that basil might be an interesting addition. It actually came out really well!

Lemon Basil Whiskey Sours

Makes: 1 cocktail

Time: 2 minutes

1 part agave nectar
1 part lemon juice
2 parts whiskey
1 tablespoon chopped basil

You can either shake in a shaker and strain into a glass, or serve stirred over ice.

Cheers!

Day 5: Finger Food Friday Sushi

This post is going up in a little bit of a hurry, as the last few days have been quite busy! 

For Finger Food Friday we are having sushi, with tofu standing in for the fish. We prepared sushi rice, and rolled it all up with avocados and cucumbers, and served it with the standard: soy sauce, wasabi, and pickled ginger. 

The full recipe will be up soon! And I will have a now tardy Thirsty Thursday post soon as well. 

Happy Friday!!

Day 4: Weeknight Wednesday Tofu Parmesan

This recipe is pretty easy. Boil noodles. Heat pasta sauce. Fry tofu. 

I know there are a lot of people who have deep-seated issues with tofu. I think that is partially because they don't really understand what it is. Tofu is essentially cheese made from soy milk in a similar process to how cow's milk mozzarella is made. Sooo... it's actually not that weird of a thing to eat with pasta. This is actually almost like putting a breaded, fried cheese on top of your spaghetti. Except it's good for you. 

I am 99% certain that tofu-haters are haters because tofu has some weird stigma attached to it, and not because of the way it actually tastes. I think that if you convince yourself that you're not eating tofu, but that you're actually eating some kind of unstringy cheese, you'll actually like it. :)

Serves 4
Time: 20 minutes

1 pound extra firm tofu

3 tablespoons olive oil 

1/3 cup flour

1/2 cup panko bread crumbs

4 tablespoons vegan parmesan (Galaxy Nutritional Foods makes a really good one)

5 cloves garlic, minced finely

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (more or less to taste)

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

Tomato sauce, either store-bought or homemade

1 pound spaghetti noodles

Slice the tofu widthwise into eight pieces, then slice each piece on the diagonal, so that you have sixteen little tofu wedges. 

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and boil water in a pot for the pasta. 

Combine the flour, panko, parmesan, garlic, herbs, and salt in a bowl. Dredge the tofu in the mixture, pressing the tofu firmly into the mixture to get as much of it to stick as possible. 

Fry the tofu in the pan until until browned, about 5 minutes. Flip, and allow to brown on the other side. While the tofu is frying, heat the the sauce and cook the pasta. 

To serve place a portion of noodles on each plate, ladle with tomato sauce, and top with four tofu wedges. 

Cheers!

Day 3: Who's Day Tuesday? Michelle!!

Today is Who's Day Tuesday, which means that a friend of mine will be sharing a recipe. Today that friend is Michelle. 

Michelle has been one of my best friends since we worked in a molecular genetics lab together five years ago. (Five years ago?!?!) It wasn't long after Michelle started working in the lab that I realized that not only did we work together, but we also lived about three apartments away from eachother. This led to me first meeting her (now) husband, Walter, as I was carrying a handle of gin across the parking lot to my apartment, which is a really embarrassing way to meet someone. 

We had too much fun most of the time. We hosted a joint Halloween party where Michelle was a mad scientist and I was a pink flamingo--which turned out to be self-fulfilling prophecies! Or almost. Michelle is now working towards her doctorate in environmental health at the University of Alberta, and I went on to become a crazy bird lady. She is studying schistosomiasis, or swimmer's itch, so if you are in Canada and have swimmer's itch, you should report it at her website on swimmer's itch! 

Disclaimer: This picture is about five years old!
I didn't know any better about the feathers at that time in my life!

 We were each other's bridesmaids when we got married, but not only that, Michelle is also one of the best drinking buddies I have. Some of our best times includes multiple Modest Mouse concerts, Isotopes baseball games, beer festivals, and karaoke night at the Thirsty Ear, an MIT on-campus bar (most entertaining karaoke EVER). Sadly, it's now been over a year since we have been able to see each other in person, since we live far apart on student budgets and have not been back to Albuquerque at the same time. (Extra sad face here).

Anyways. Michelle is also extraordinarily crafty. She knits amazing scarves, she made her own paper flowers for her wedding, and she also bakes beautiful cakes (she even made her own vegan wedding cake, which is the recipe she is sharing today!). Walter is also amazingly crafty. He made his own 3-D printer and CNC machine. He was our wedding photographer and did a phenomenal job! And today is also Walter's birthday! So Happy Birthday Walter! 

We miss you guys! 

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It’s the beginning of September, Fall is in the air, and all I have to say is NOOOOOOOO!!!!  I’m not ready yet, why can’t there be more months of summer? I’m originally from New Mexico, where we do get all the seasons, but they’re quite mild compared to my current location, Edmonton (that’s in Alberta, Canada ya’ll). Here in the great, white North, I’ve learned to really value the summer because it doesn’t last long, and it’s when all the amazing food is available. Granted, there are year-round farmer’s markets here, but the options become very limited, especially for things such as fresh-picked berries; so I’m stocking up!

In honour of the last days of summer, and my husband’s birthday, I’m going to share with you an amazingly awesome recipe (slightly modified) that  I found a couple years ago on another Vegan blog called Hungryface (http://hungryface.blogspot.ca/2009/06/blueberry-sundays.html) for Blueberry Lime Cake. I’m going to include a little trick I learned for preserving farm-fresh berries as well as a recipe for a delicious Lemon Lavender frosting, which happens to go amazingly with this cake.

While I’m new to Vegan baking, I can say that this recipe is fast, simple, and doesn’t include very many ingredients. It’s incredibly diverse in delivery as well, because you can use it for muffins, cupcakes, regular cake, or even a wedding cake! All of which I have tried and have loved every time I made it, as well as my husband… and the rest of my family too.

Tip for saving fresh berries...

So you go to the market and buy a ton of fresh berries because, one, they are delicious, and two, you know you’ll use them for something if not just snacking, but what do you do if you can’t use them right away, especially if they’re really ripe? Well, you can freeze them, and it’s really easy. Just rinse the berries and then lay them out evenly on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Place them in the freezer until frozen, maybe 15 minutes or so? Once frozen, place them in freezer bags, and store in the freezer until you need them. I wouldn’t go beyond a couple months as they will probably get freezer burn and start to taste bad. See super easy!

Blueberry Lime Cupcakes – makes 15 cupcakes/muffins

1 1/2 cups flour
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 1/4 cups vanilla almond or soy milk
Zest of one lime
1 cup fresh blueberries (can use frozen as well)

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Combine dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Zest the lime into the dry ingredients, making sure not to get any of the pith.

Add the oil and almond milk (soy milk may be used as well) and gently fold into dry ingredients to combine.

Add the blueberries (fresh or frozen, fresh is better) and barely combine.

Pour or scoop into cupcake pan - remember to line the pan with paper cups (can also use one 8 inch round or one 9 X 9 pan).

Bake in center of the oven for about 30 minutes (for cupcakes; need about 50-60 minutes for cake) or until lightly golden brown and springs to the touch.

Now, you can choose to stop here, it would be the healthier option, and call them “muffins” or you can continue on and make them even more delicious!

Lemon Lavender Buttercream Frosting

1/2 cup Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks

1/2 cup Crisco

3 Tbsp Vanilla Almond Milk

1 lb (500g) powdered sugar

1 tsp lemon extract

1 Tbsp lemon zest or one lemon’s worth

2 Tbsp ground Lavender

In a mixer, combine Earth Balance and Crisco with lemon extract and lemon zest until creamy. While you are creaming them together, grind the lavender with a mortar and pestle (you can try whole lavender too).

Then add half of the powdered sugar and the almond milk and combine till creamy. Start to add the lavender by sifting it through a fine mesh sieve to get out the sticks and extra stuff. Don’t add it all at once, but add to taste. Remember that the lavender flavour sometimes gets stronger over time as it sits in the frosting. I usually add a lot because I really like the flavour.

Then start adding the remaining powdered sugar to consistency. Beat on high for about 5 minutes. Texture should be light and fluffy, with stiff peaks. If your frosting is too wet, add more sugar, if too hard or dry, add a little more almond milk.

For those of you who are calorie conscious, I used a recipe calorie calculator to try and figure out how much would be in each frosted cupcake, so this would be with a lot of frosting on each cupcake, as my recipe made more than I needed.

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 1 frosted cupcake

Amount Per Serving

Calories 374

Calories from Fat 163

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 18.1g (28%)

Saturated Fat 6.2g (31%)

Trans Fat 0.0g

Cholesterol 4mg (1%)

Sodium 154mg (6%)

Total Carbohydrates 51.8g (17%)

Dietary Fiber 0.7g (3%)

Sugars 40.4g

Protein 2.0g

Vitamin A 0%      •                Vitamin C 2%

Calcium 5%         •                Iron 5%

Nutrition Grade F

* Based on a 2000 calorie diet

Cheers and thanks Michelle!!